State GST Dept. Doesn’t Have Jurisdiction To Retain Amount Of Tax On Export Transactions: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has held that CGST/MGST authorities would not have jurisdiction to retain the amount of tax on export transactions.

The bench of Justice G. S. Kulkarni and Justice Jitendra S. Jain has directed the state government to transfer the amount to the Central Government.

The petitioner was required to deposit tax on the export transaction in question with the authorities under the CGST Act and/or the MGST Act. The petitioner had taken a clear position that authorities would not have jurisdiction to demand any tax on the export of services.

The petitioner filed applications for refunds of tax deposited with the CGST, MGST, and other authorities. The refund applications were rejected by orders dated October 15, 2020, and November 27, 2020, respectively.

The court has directed that the tax as deposited by the petitioner, along with the statutory interest as applicable, be transferred by the State authorities to the Central Authority having jurisdiction under the IGST Act.

The court quashed the order passed by the Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax rejecting the refund application of the petitioner.

Case Title: Media Net Software Services (India) Pvt. Ltd. Versus Union of India & Ors.

Case No.: Writ Petition No. 749 Of 2021

Date: 05/07/2023

Counsel For Petitioner: Sandeep Chicana, Suhana Manjesh

Counsel For Respondent: Himanshu Takke

Click Here To Read The Order